Witnesses said the fire at Smart Fashions, located on the upper floor of a two-storey building of Mohammadpur, was sparked in a tyre repair and welding shop downstairs.

Fire fighters and police have deployed teams to the building to control the situation and pulled out six bodies, and the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

A source at the Reuters news agency confirmed: "Everything inside the factory has been gutted".

A fire at Tazreen Fashions Limited in a Dhaka suburb in November killed 112 workers and injured at least 150, a blazethat focused world attention on poor safety standards in the country's garment sector.

Working conditions at Bangladeshi factories are notoriously poor, with little enforcement of safety laws. Overcrowding andlocked fire doors are common.